Bus-loads of protesters will converge at the Mansion House in Dublin this evening to protest at the Government's treatment of people with disabilities.Every TD and senator has been invited to the rally, which is being organised by disability groups, as well as Amnesty International and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
Ms Deirdre Carroll, secretary of the National Association for People with Intellectual Disability, said the protest would highlight the "disastrous impact of rampant cutbacks on people with intellectual disability".
It would also focus on the "scandal" of our psychiatric hospitals and the need for rights-based disability legislation.
Ms Carroll said the last Budget was the first in 25 years to fail to provide a single penny for new services for people with disabilities.
"Since then, almost without exception, service providing agencies and health boards throughout the country are facing an unprecedented crisis."
The cuts meant there was nowhere to go for many young people who would finish their special school education this year.
Ms Carroll also expressed concern about the number of people with intellectual disability who were being kept in psychiatric hospitals because of the lack of services.
Ms Fiona Crowley, Amnesty International's policy officer, said the Government was not abiding by the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights. People with disabilities were being denied their rights to education, employment and health, she said.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said it was "extremely concerned" that the Government appeared to be doing a U-turn on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
This follows a report in The Irish Times yesterday that the Department of Justice was strongly opposing a common EU position on the convention because of its implications for the Exchequer.
Ms Aisling Reidy, director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, said this was "very worrying" and did not bode well for the introduction of a rights-based disability bill in this State.
The rally will be held in the Mansion House Round Room tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m..
